Railway-traffic-controlling apparatus



-Mar. 3, 1925. 1,523,020

L. F. HOWARD RAILWAY TRAFFIC CONTROLLING APPARA TUS Fi led, Aug.- 30,1923 D ZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII I ,IIIII 'IIIIIIIIIIJ I 0 blllll'l/IIIIIIINVENTORI a X W. wee,

rams-. 1 Mar. 3, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT ossics.

EMUEL F. HOWARD, or EDGEWGOD BOROUGH, PENNSYLVANIA, -ASSIGNOR-TO1THE IONswrron & SIGNAL COMPANY, ronArIoN or rENNsYLvANIA.

or swIssvAnE, rnNnsvnvnN'r-n, A- 1' con \RAILWAY-TBAFFIC-CONTROLLINGAnPAn rus.

Application filed Aug-11st 30,

train. carrie governing mechanism 1s controlled by energy received fromthe track- .brakes of the train in the following manner:

way.- More specifically the present; invention relates to the traincarried-portion of such apparatus.

I will describe one form ofapparatu$emy l s my v n ea n l en poin outthe novel jieatures thereotin claims,

7 In the accompanying drawing, Fig. l' isa diagrammatic view showing oneform of apparatus embodying my invention. Fig- 2 is a view showing amodification of a portion of theapparatus: shown in- Fig. 1 and 7 alsoembodying my invention. r

1 Similar reference characters-refer to similar parts-in eachjof theviews.

efer ingwfi 's t character A designates a train. carried relay,

wh ch, as here shown, isof the induction motor type comprising two sator windings l0; and 11, a rotor 12and threecontact fingers 2, '3 and Aoperated by therotor. The ato wi ings and a upplie with energycontrolledbytnaflfifc condit ons in advance ofjth train in such ,mannerthat u d r pr eed t af ic cqnd i ns' t c ac fingers areswungtolthelright, under caution I r fi con i ns he C ntact n ers. a swug to th l a d' nder ep rafi conditions" thecontact fingers occupyvertical or intermediate positions. The means for supplying current ,tothe windings l0 and ll forms no part of. my present invention and isomitted from the drawing for the p rp of s mp i ty,-

A lo a ed; o he a is a sign lmp si g n the m r s o n, re

lamps G, Y and which lamps, when livhted, indicate Proceed, .Caution andtop,respectively. The proceed lamp is controlled by. contact 22offrelayA, .so that ,this lamp lighted under proceed traffic conditions.The caution lamp Y is :tions. The circuits fol-these lamps rent arerepresented by the These circuits will be clearly understood Whenrelay.the brakes in such manner that the ref ren Qoccur. A 7 r jThe referencecharacter E deslgnates a 4-14 of relay A manually closed; by the driver3.2. Serial No. 660,1,46. j

controlled by contact 2--2 f relay A, so that this lamp is lightedunder. caution traffic conditions. The stop lamp- R is controlled bycontact 2-2 of relay A 'so that this lamp is lighted under stop tra'fiiccondias well as i or the other parts of the apparatus are shown inskeleton form, in that the twoterminals of the battery or other sour'ceof curletters B and 0.

from the drawing. r e

Contact finger 4 of relay A controls-the When contact l4is closed, aslow releasing relay G is energized through a circuit which will beobvious from the drawing. C is energized, a magnet fG is also energizedthrough front a contact 13,, the circuit for which magnet will also beobvious from the drawing. Magnet 6,.controls an automatic applicationoccurs when this magnet is de-energi'zeclis provided with an armature7,, which controls a valve 5 in a pipeD. As long as'inagnet 6 isenergized valve 5 is closed and no automatic application of the brakesoccurs;

when magneto becomes d-e-energized,- however, it releases armature[thereby permitting valve 5 to open and the consequent opening of pipe Dto atmospherecauses an automatic application of the brakes tot'rain'carried rel'ay which is provided with a pick-up circuit includinga caution contact and a normally open oil'- so located-that it may be ofthe train. VVVhen the relay is once closed, it will remain closed aslong as contact H isclosed, because of the stick circuit includingcontact H and a front contact 9 of relay E. When relay E is closed,contact' 8 thereof closes an auxiliary circuit ior brake-controllingmagnet 6, so that this magnet then remains energized after relay Cbecomes dee rg d l The reference character X designates an cuitcontroller F auxiliary signaling devicepwhich, in the form here shown,is an electric 'lampfcontrolled by caution contact 3*? of relay A. hi mpXis so des gn d th m at As here shown, magnet .65.

sence of resistance in its circuit it will burn at greater brilliancythan the lamps of signal S. The circuit for lamp X includes a ballastresistance unit 10, that is, a unit having a high positive temperaturecoefficient, so that the resistance of the unit increases with increaseof temperature. It follows that when contact 3 -3" of relay A becomesclosed, the auxiliary lamp X will momentarily burn at relatively highbrilliancy and will subsequently burn at relativel low brilliancy.

The operation of the apparatus shown in Figure 1, is as follows: Whenrelay A is energized in proceed direction, as shown in the drawing, theproceed lamp G is lighted, slow-releasing relay C is energized, andbrake controlling magnet 6 is also energized, so that the train mayproceed without an automatic application of the brakes. hen such achange in traffic conditions occurs as to cause relay A to becomeenergized in the caution direction, lamp G will become extinguished, lamY will become lighted, and relay 0 will become de-energized, so thatafter a certain interval of time this relay will open and the brakeswill be automatically applied unless the driver takes suitable action toprevent such application. If, during the said interval of time, thedriver closes circuit controller F, relay E will be come energized,thereby closing the auxiliary circuit for magnet 6 and preventing anautomatic application of the brakes. Relay E will then remain energizedthrough its stick circuit as long as relay A continues to be energizedin the caution direction. As soon as relay A assumes the cautionposition, lamp X is momentarily lighted at excess brilliancy, therebyemphatically calling the drivers attention to the fact that a change hasoccurred in the indication given by signal S. It is not necessary,therefore, for the driver to constantly watch the signal S, because whenthis signal changes to an indication requiring action on the part of thedriver, his attention will be called to this fact by the brilliantillumination of lamp X. Preferably lamp X, when brilliantly lighted,will be visible to the driver no matter what part of his cab he may beoccupying and no matter in what direction he may be looking.

- The apparatus shown in Fi 2 is the same as that shown in Fig. 1,except that the auxiliary lamp X is omitted, the caution. lamp Y has thesame characteristic as lamp X, and the ballast resistance 10 is placedin the circuit of the lamp Y. lVhen relay A changes from the proceed tothe caution position, lamp Y will momentarily be lighted at excessbrilliancy and will then be reduced to normal brilliancy, so that thedrivers attention is emphatically called to the change in indicationgiven by signal S.

One important feature of my invention is the fact that I am assured thatthe drivers attention will be immediately called to a change ofindication requiring action on his part, so that I am enabled tomaterially re duce the time interval required in which to permit thedriver to prevent an automatic brake application by'closing circuitcontroller F.

Although I have herein shown and described only two forms of apparatusemhodying my invention, it is understood that various changes andmodifications may be made therein within the scope of the appendedclaims without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what Iclaim is:

1. Train carried traflic controlling apparatus comprising a signaldevice provided with a circuit including a source of current and meansfor closing and opening the circuit, and a ballast resistance in saidcircuit for reducing the amount of current supplied to said signaldevice after the circuit has been closed for a brief interval of time.

2. Train carried traffic controlling apparatus comprising at least twosignaling devices giving a less restrictive and a more restrictiveindication respectively, circuits for said devices. and a ballastresistance associated with the circuit for the more restrictive deviceto reduce the current supplied to such device after its circuit has beenclosed for a brief interval of time.

3. Train carried traffic controlling apparatus comprising at least twosignaling devices giving a less restrictive and a more restrictiveindication respectively, circuits for said devices, and means associatedwith the circuit for the more restrictive device for permitting anexcessive current to reach the device for a brief interval after thecircuit'is closed and for thereafter reducing the current in said deviceto normal value.

4. In combination, a train carried main signal capable of giving a lessrestrictive indicationand a more restrictive indication, an auxiliarysignal device energized only when the more restrictive indication isgiven by said main signal, and a ballast resistance in the circuit forsaid auxiliary signal device.

, 5. In combination, a train carried railway signal comprising at leasttwo lamps giving a less restrictive and a more restrictive indicationrespectively, and means for causing the more restrictive indication lampto burn momentarily at excess brilliancy when such lamp becomes lighted.

6. In combination, a train carried railway signal capable of giving aless restrictive indication and a more restrictive indication. anauxiliary lamp arranged to be lighted only when the more restrictiveindication is given by said signal, and means for causing said lamp toburn momentarily at excess brilliancy when the lamp'becomes lighted. v

and a ballast resistance in said-circuit TEO1 causing said lamp to burnmomentarily at relatively high brilliancy when the circuit becomesclosed and subsequently causing the lamp to burn at relatively lowbrilliancy.

8. Train carried railway traiiic controlling apparatus comprising meansoperating to apply the brakes automatically after a given interval oftime subsequent to a change from a less restrictive to a morerestrictive trafllc condition, signaling means for indicating traflicconditions to the driver of the train, means for preventing suchautomatic application if the driver takes suitable action during suchinterval of time, and means for emphatically calling the driversattention to a change from less to more restrictive traflic conditionsthereby insuring that he have an opportunity to take such suit-ableaction during said time interval.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

LEMUEL F. HOWARD.

